


It's called MUTUAL respect asshole

by HomeworkIdRatherChooseDeath



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (well in all the ways that matters, Angry Shiro (Voltron), Angst, Canon Compliant, Gen, Keith & Shiro (Voltron) are Siblings, Keith (Voltron) Angst, Lance and Pidge and hunk are barely there, Pre-Canon, Protective Shiro (Voltron), Texan Keith (Voltron), no beta we die like ulaz
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:27:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27867641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomeworkIdRatherChooseDeath/pseuds/HomeworkIdRatherChooseDeath
Summary: When Shiro met 11 year old Akira "Keith" Kogane he didn't expect what he got. After dropping off the car jacking pre-teen of at his house, he heard something that would haunt him for years to come.
Relationships: Keith & Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 44





	It's called MUTUAL respect asshole

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there before this begins you should probably know this is one of my first Fics so please go easy on me.
> 
> Warning though:  
> \- Shiro experiences flashbacks Throughout the entire fic  
> \- there are references to alcholism and keith-shiro past experience dealing with drunk people  
> \- there is a point where Shiro contemplates killing himself now this is barely noticeable honestly if you aren't searching for it and you may not even think that's what he's talking about but if you would like to at  
> "Pain surged through his right side as he was slammed against the wall."  
> Stop reading and start again at the next line break.

If there is one thing Shiro is weak for its kids with potential.

He _hated_ kids with potential.

More than the students that think piloting's all a game and want the fame not the job.

Because he can't stop himself from doing whatever they need to reach their goals and fighting anyone who stands on the way. He knows he should walk away. And yet he always ends up doing the same thing, be it stray cat or cute little kid with single minded determination

And in came Keith _Motherfucking_ Kogane. He was a stray cat in a small, angry human form. Seeing so much of himself in him that he sometimes had to look away.

Shiro had admittedly been caught by surprise when the little raven haired 11 year old stole his car and went joyriding. He may have pegged the kid as a delinquent if not for the conversations they had on the way back. He had been at the school in this district to recruit cadets for the garrison and little Keith(if that was even his name) was _very_ interested in it.

Once they had arrived back at his home(he hoped from the directions he got), Keith almost _______threw_______ himself out of the car and ran to the door. Shiro watched him knock on the door and be let in by a little girl with shoulder length hair about Keith's age. He was going to get back in his car and leave when he saw her gesture for him. After getting closer he recognised her from one of the classes he had given his speech in, she had asked very insightful questions and he had hoped to see her at garrison.

"Thank you Mr. Shirogane. Keith looks really happy"

Shiro looked through the door at the boy aggressively opening and closing drawers and making himself something to eat. Probably from the confusion shining clear on his face, the girl said:

"Thank you for being nice to him Mr. Shirogane. Grown ups don't like Keith." What? "They say he's 'too angry and dumb for anything more than a tramp'"

**Anger.**

From the way she had spoken it was clear she was quoting an adult she had heard say that about Keith.

\----------------------------

It's stuck with him.

Due to his recruitment process, he could access school records to assess if the student's are able to even apply to the school. That means a file labeled Akira "Keith" Kogane.

And he was _pissed_.

On his files were things about how Keith had absolutely terrible grades, was either dead last or near to it in every subject. He was just 'a handful' of a child with honestly quite explosive tendencies. Usually with a case like this with his poor grades and anger management a lazy ADHD is slapped in the kid and left him alone but there was nothing of the sorts there. In fact it's a great surprise he wasn't tested for anything at all.

After some questioning it was cleared it was a shared opinion by a majority of the staff at his school that he wouldn't make it to graduation.

And that made him **angry.**

****

Shiro had tuned out of the boy's rambling for a majority of the ride home but it was clear that the boy was intelligent. From the questions he asked to not going anywhere near S hiro without suitable protection from him and even how he had sent shiro in a wild goose chase so he'd forget how to get to his house, the boy was an admittedly genius for his age.

But still-  
 **"Grown ups don't like Keith."**

\-------------------------  
So……….  
Keith lives with him now.

It wasn't planned or anything but for Keith to be able to attend Garrison he would have to go to the dorms. The problem with this however was that the dorms were full from older cadets and Keith wasn't exactly high priority to the higher ups. Due to this and Keith's premature acceptance, the only way for Keith to attend Shiro would have to become his legal guardian and grant him access to the military grounds.

Over the last year that Shiro had spent getting to know Keith and being a mentor for him they had formed a relationship that went past friendship or regualr mentor-mentee bonds. The only thing Shiro could compare it to is what he imagined having a brother would be like.

This meant that Shiro and Keith were both comfortable with Shiro having legal guardianship.

Shiro soon realised with as much Keith would talk to him in their meetings or calls, he is a very quiet person. He likes sitting in a comfortable silence. One so paper thin that the sound of shiro sipping his coffee shot through the apartment like the cocking sound of a shotgun.

He drew. He baked. Researched ancient weaponry and supernatural events and creatures for hours on end. Retreating into his room for so long Shiro has to check-in to make sure he is doing basic things like hygiene and eating.

It's in these silent moments he'll hear it again.

**Jaggedly cut hair.**

**Wide, honest eyes.**

**"Grown ups don't like Keith"**

His grip on his coffee cup tightened along with the one on his newspapers the crinkling noise that resulted forcing him back to the present.

He hadn't understood it fully when he first met him but he sees it everyday now.

They'll go to a restaurant and the waiter will see Keith's glare and dark clothing and scoff.

Iverson looking for the cheat in Keith's simulations and exams when he passed.

The parents on the street.

His teachers.

His foster families.

It was everywhere.

Years and years of-

**"Grown ups don't like Keith"**

So Keith didn't like grown ups back.

Someone pulled the cup out of his hand. His vision began to swim and-

\------------------------------------------

Keith could hear the heavy breathing from his room.

He could hear the warning signs.

So he came to help. He was surprised it _wasn't_ alcohol Shiro was drinking but the mechanics was the same.

Take him to the bathroom. Let him vomit all he needs. Carry him to his room. Leave some aspirin and water on the bedside table.

"Nothing I hadn't done before." Keith whispered to himself as he hefted Shiro's arm over his shoulder

\----------------------------------------

It was orientation week. The school hall was filled with hundreds of bright new faces who hope to be the world's next space travelers and their commanders. Voices and conversations overlap as Shiro caught only snippets of each one.

"- call me the 'tailor' back home because-"  
"-sure my makeup-"  
"-so much bigger than I-"  
"-o Katie I didn't forget-"  
"-hair was just so-"  
"-name is really long. You can just call me Hunk th-"  
"-match last night-"

They were all so intertwined in a veil of sound so thick and heavy that Shiro (and Keith to be the look on his face) longed for the companionable silence of his apartment.

Getting a headache this early in the morning would be a mistake so he decided on focusing on how Keith was doing. He was going to begin approaching when to his shock, he could see a lanky, giraffe like latino boy timidly walking up to him. Keith looked up almost pleading when he saw the boy approach. Remembering from a snippet of conversation he had overheard that the boy’s name was Taylor, he smirked and retreated back into the crowd.

He could make friends on his own by now.

\--------------------------------------------------------

He had gotten in.

Shiro was so filled to the brim with pride, he nearly burst. To anyone else Keith looked neutral and almost expectant but Shiro could see it. The pride and blinding happiness shone brightly in his violet eyes. He had reached the top. Even if-

"Can't believe they let him in-"

_Slam._

**"Grown ups don't like Keith"**

_The swish of running water._

**Iverson.**

Shiro's smile wavered but when Keith threw a worried look over his shoulder he straightened his back and made it return in full force. Fake it till you make it right?

\---------------------------------

"Are you sure you wanna go?"

_Wind blew through his hair._

_Violet eyes shiny with tears._

"Bit late to turn back now isn't it?"

_But he'd thought about it because-_

**"Grown ups don't like Keith"**

_How could he leave him alone because-_

**"Grown ups don't lik-"**

_What if he gets hurt because-_

**Wide eyes.**

_Because-_

**The moon lighting up her face.**

_Because-_

**"Grown ups-"**

\---------------------------------------------

The decision was made for him when Keith walked away.

If only they _knew-_

**"Grown-"**

\---------------------------------------------

Pain surged through his right side as he was slammed against the wall.

He slid himself into a comfortable position (well at least as much as he could in a cell with only one arm) and not for the first time wondered where everyone was.

He remembered Matt and Sam talking about their families. Matt's sister. Sam's wife. And their dog bae bae. They'd asked about his family and he talked about Keith at a length. They probably knew more about Keith than any of his foster families from before had.

Shiro felt a _zing_ of pain travel up his arm and threw his body and tried to focus on Keith as much as he could. It was all the comfort he had in this living hell.

How Keith would collect stones he thought were pretty.

How he left him a cup of coffee every morning before he went to class.

How he'd once been an 11 year old with the dagger excitedly telling him all about the planets while he took him on a wild goose chase around Texas.

How-

**The moon.**   
**Jagged hair.**   
**A chipped door.**   
**"Grown-"**

_Zing._

This time he invited the pain. Maybe then he could stop thinking about it. Thinking about everything. **Stop** everything. If only he could just-

 _Beeeeeeep_.

He inhaled softly. Time for another match then.

\--------------------------------  
"Shiro, you're the senior officer here. What should we do?"

He glance around the cockpit.  
At Ta-Lance clearly desperate for guidance. At Hunk who looked on the verge of a breakdown. At Mini-Matt who he didn't understand the existence of. At Keith and wondered because it couldn't have just been him.

Not just him to have-

_Swiiiish_

**"Grown ups don't like-"**

~~"The nervous guy's Hunk-"~~

_SLAM_.

To be-

**"They say he's too angry-"**

~~"Hey gimme that!"~~

_ZING._

**"Too dumb-"**

~~"YOU ARE THE WORST PILOT EVER"~~

But if-

_BEEEEEEEP_

"Whatever's happening, the Lion knows more than we do. I say we trust it, but we're a team now. We should decide together."

**"Grown ups don't like Kei-"**

Well then. They aren't exactly grown ups are they?

"... All right. Guess we're all ditching class tomorrow."

….Guess we are.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. Kudos and/or comments are greatly appreciated. I'm fine with criticism as long as it isn't just insulting my writing (and not in any way helpful). If you could tell me if I missed any mistakes while editing, I'd greatly appreciate it (I don't have a beta) Hope you have a nice day.


End file.
